Sugar production in the first 45 days of the current season (October 2022 to September 2023) is a tad lower at 19.9 lakh tonnes (lt), against 20.8 lt during the same period a year ago.
The India Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a press release that several mills in the West started operations late this season, leading to slightly lower output as of November 15.
ISMA added that as per port information and market reports, about 35 lakh tonnes of contracts for sugar export have been signed so far. Of this, about 2 lakh tonnes of sugar have been physically exported in Octobe, as compared to about 4 lakh tonnes in the corresponding month last year.
“Several traders entered in export contracts for the 2022-23 season, much before the export policy announced by the government — that is,before November 5, 2022. Since then, there has been upward trend in international prices of sugar, as a result of which sugar mills are renegotiating export contract prices,” the ISMA release said.